Monday, March 9, 2015

"One-stop help centers exist all over the U.S. — in San Francisco, there’s Project Homeless Connect, a 10-year-old effort to refer the homeless to job training, substance-abuse counseling and other programs that can pull them off the streets.

But what has never been tried is moving full encampments under one roof — dogs and couples and tents and all — and housing them there until permanent housing is found. The Navigation Center will be doing this as a pilot project for eight to 18 months, depending on its success.
The whole thing is a gamble of sorts, its creators admit. But for now, hopes are high.

“To have a newness to this, we have to have a sense that people actually will get help,” Lee told officials who came to tour the center, which the city Public Works Department just finished building out with dormitories, a laundry, counseling rooms, and pet and storage areas.

The center will be open 24 hours a day, but the idea is not just to provide an alternative spot to pitch a tent. By moving campers in as a group, the city hopes, they will trust the process more than many do in shelters, where, as Fairrer puts it, “you’re sleeping next to strangers and don’t know what to expect.”

The center is being funded by a $2 million anonymous donation funneled through the San Francisco Interfaith Council. An additional $1 million from the same donor is being used to help create what city planners hope will be 500 new supportive housing units — housing with counseling on-site — for the homeless by the end of the year.*****OUR COMMENT! EVERY CITY IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NEEDS A PLAN LIKE THIS and THE FUNDING. Shelters are time wasters. Even "lucky" people sometimes waste years of their lives expecting a shelter to get them permanent housing. Shelters take funds from the government and donations from corporations and individuals and use it for salaries of incompetents.

OUR INTENTION

THE UP AND UP

Our blog focuses on Southern California, the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernadino, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Ventura, Riverside, and Imperial, though we keep an eye on the entire state and whatever is happening around the United States.

To bring up information you need try word searches such as "AIDS" or "Santa Monica" or "Homeless Children" to bring up posts with those tags.

There are dozens of links for Southern California within the blog! The sidebar will retain links that are NATIONAL.